SERMON XIV.

THE PRECIOUSNESS OF GOD'S SAINTS.

MATT. X. 31.

"Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many

sparrows."

It was not because man has wisdom and the sparrow has none; man has the dominion over all living things upon earth, and the sparrow is one of the least worthy of notice among them. Man has a body and soul, which, if he lose, not all the gold and precious stones of this world, or of millions of worlds, can avail to redeem them from destruction in hell, but the dead sparrow is sold for half a farthing, and there is an end of it; man was made in the image of God, and the sparrow only after its kind. It was not for these reasons, I say, that our Lord told his disciples that they were better than many sparrows. He was speaking to his followers, and addressing them as his disciples indeed; and this assurance of the pre

ciousness of man in the eyes of God is given to such as do indeed follow Him. True indeed it is that God has a general care over all men. He maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust, and so increases the condemnation of their unthankfulness. But it is to the true disciples of his doctrine, the sincere believers in his word, the lovers of Him and keepers of his commandments, that He gives the gracious encouragement, that they should not fear, for that they are of more value than many sparrows. They are precious to Him; they have been renewed into his own image, in righteousness and true holiness; they have been conformed to the image of his dear and only begotten Son; they have been redeemed, not with corruptible things, as silver and gold, but by the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without spot and without blemish; they are vessels of honour, temples of his Spirit, children of his kingdom, heirs of everlasting life, sons brought to glory. Can such be otherwise than precious to Him? and shall not such, who are indeed seeking the kingdom of God and his righteousness, have, according to promise, all the rest, that is, the necessaries of this life added unto them?

Behold, then, the blessedness of those that seek and serve the Lord. They need not to be afraid for any thing. They are assured, that

so precious are they, that the very hairs of their head have been numbered, that God should not lose them. Here is security and safety, here is privilege and honour. Why, then, when such a state has been so freely offered, will men be so slow to accept? What a veil must there be upon their eyes, what blindness upon their hearts! What a proof is here of his corruption, and of his loss of that heavenly knowledge, according to which he was the image of God.

Is it not melancholy to think, that a creature with such a call before him, with an especial invitation to God's presence, with an especial promise of his help, should so avoid his presence, so distrust his help? Yet so it is. For see the lives of too many of those who profess and call themselves Christians, and would be very angry with any one who refused to call them so. Do they press into his courts, and come before his presence with a song, on the day when the Lord calls all the children of God before his throne, to give Him public blessing, praise, and adoration, for his mercies and benefits? Or do they not rather exercise the very first thoughts of their hearts on that morning in devising their own work, and excusing themselves from God's? They cannot trust God and his promises for a day, no not even for a couple of hours. They can find no leisure for God's work, and never sufficient time for their own. The work of God, which

is deliverance from death and hell, and salvation to eternal life, which is consolation in Christ, and peace with God, through his most precious blood; which is joining the song of angels, and all the blessed company of heaven, in ascribing honour and glory to his name; which is under the direction of the Holy Spirit, and is a service of heavenly joy and gladness for ever and ever; this, forsooth, may stand still; this may be put off on the slightest excuse; this may wait upon their own convenience, and may be taken up, or thrust into a corner, just as they please: but their own work, which at best is to prolong another day, under God's long-suffering, to the perishing body, even another day of forgetfulness of God, of disobedience to his will, and a short reprieve from judgment to come; this cannot be laid aside for a moment, let God call as loudly as He will, let Him promise with a voice from the height of heaven, let Him threaten with a roar from the depths of hell; this must not be put off by any excuse, this must be done first and last, and at all times between.

What is madness, if this be not? What is folly, if this be not? Such persons may possibly be reckoned wise in their generation; but what is their generation but one of spiritual folly, and ignorance of the one thing needful? What wonder, if so far from laying fast hold of the Lord's gracious encouragement, "not to

of this miser

fear," they are in continual fear?er. They have no faith in which to trust God, and Gherefore they lie at the mercy of all the accidents of this world. In the midst of all their carefulness, a black sky will throw a gloom upon, their hearts, to say nothing of more serious nappearances. The height of their joy is but als momentary release from this fear, which comises on again the stronger for such a rest. And all this but a preparation for that last fear of all, the fear of death and judgment to come. Aiand yet men will not accept the invitation out able state of bondage. They will go on trusting a world which is continually deceiving them; and trusting themselves, wt hile daily they cheat themselves, and become lessse and less able to help themselves, and will no at trust Him upon whom all things depend, rand to whom they owe every breath that theyis draw, from whom they must receive every good thing that they desire. But let us leave them thawhile, to look upon the more excellent way whivich is followed by the children of the kingdom of heaven.

To them, and them only, the t Lord said, fear not for they are his little flock.r, which He hath gathered into his fold, into which can enter nothing to do them harm. Tr's ey have turned their hearts away from the seforvice and wages of a world, which they have f Tound has sin for its service, and death for its wadages. They have turned them unto God and or the Lord Jesus